Strange Invaders

This movie is pays great respect to the Sci-Fi movies of the 50's, but takes itself somewhat serious. If you view this film in that sense, you will have a great time!

The special effects are on a low budget and some of the camera angles are kind of strange, but the acting and the story are what keep this film going. A pre Barton Fink Michael Lerner is here and is great as always!

Be sure to look for two cameo's from former Lost in Space stars! Also, a very early R.E.M. song can be heard in the back ground of one scene.

Again, if you watch this with the frame of mind that this is a 50's sci-fi movie made in the 80's, you will get a real kick out of it!

I give this film a B+

I never saw Strange Invaders until yesterday but I found it immensely pleasurable to watch. Diana Scarwid, Nancy Allen, Louise Fletcher, and the cast was pretty interesting to watch with their material about alien beings playing humans for 25 years. While it probably took off from E.T. in the previous year, Strange Invaders is worth watching for the fans of science fiction and fantasy. I enjoyed it immensely maybe because I think Diana Scarwid deserved better in terms of scripts and she should have been a household name ever since her performance as the older Christina Crawford in Mommy Dearest. Oscar Winner Louise Fletcher also deserved more than roles that were secondary, supporting or featuring. Nevertheless, Strange Invaders is strange but fun to watch for kids, adults, or anybody who doesn't take themselves too seriously.

I reviewed this clever tribute to low-budget 1950s sci=fi flicks (most notably "Invaders From Mars") some years ago. Having just watched it again, I felt compelled to write it up one more time. The people who put this charming cult classic together definitely knew what they were doing: A big city college teacher (LeMat) goes searching for his missing ex-wife in a rural Midwest town, only to discover the town is populated by what appear to be very hostile aliens (for one thing, they love blowing up cars). The professor learns the aliens took over the town in the late 1950s, with our government's permission. One of the great gags in this delightful movie is that, 25 years later, nothing has changed in the occupied town. It's still full of hayseeds and sock hops and hideous American-made monster mobiles. A tabloid journalist (Allen) joins the professor in his search, and all hell breaks loose as the aliens attempt to keep their identity a secret. The supporting cast is populated by award-winning actors like Louise Fletcher, doing a variation on her legendary Nurse Wratchet (around the same time, she also appeared in a spoofy remake of "Invaders From Mars"), and Michael Lerner, whose woebegone character has lost his wife and kids to the aliens and has been locked away in the funny farm. The movie was clearly shot on a shoestring, with poor sound quality and way too many single takes (watch the little boy at the end put his right arm around his dad for a split second before dropping it and staring off-camera at what probably was one of his real-life parents). But the film also exhibits a unique charm and features some truly unnerving moments (dig the "Evil Dead" bit when the professor's dog, now a captive of the aliens, appears to rush back and forth past the professor on a lonely road, unseen but definitely there via incredible sound effects and unusual camera work. Also, some of the other effects are extremely satisfying in their crude way, such as a series of glowing orbs that hold the captive humans and the aliens' spaceship. Plus, the story's pace never slackens. There's something going on every second of this movie; there ain't no padding. The ending is utter hokum, but intentionally so, I suspect.

A college professor (Paul Le Mat) goes looking for his missing wife and finds a town that appears to be stuck in the 1950s. While there, he's attacked by an alien but manages to escape. He then tries to get a reporter (Nancy Allen) to believe his story, which she does after she has her own close encounter.

The '80s was a fun decade for movies, not only for original material but also for movies that were inspired by the great sci-fi flicks of the '50s, such as this one. It's an enjoyable sci-fi horror movie that doesn't take itself seriously but isn't a straight-up comedy, either. Nancy Allen is lots of fun and Louise Fletcher is terrific in a supporting role. Paul Le Mat makes for an unassuming lead but he's quite good in the part. My favorite part of the whole movie is Michael Lerner's flashback scene. Love seeing older actors like Kenneth Tobey, Charles Lane, and June Lockhart. There are also some amusing genre references I got a kick out of. The sets, props, and special effects are excellent. Good use of location filming by director Michael Laughlin. Why does it seem no one shoots in small towns anymore?

It's a little slow-going and I can imagine some viewers will be frustrated that it skirts the line between straight sci-fi and comedy as much as it does. It's an entertaining movie, particularly if you like '50s sci-fi. I think it gets better with repeated viewings.

Seems that the foremost reason why this movie isn't much appreciated is because most people don't seem to understand that this movie is being an homage to the science-fiction movies from the '50's. As an homage this movie is really a quite good one, surprisingly. So, all of those silly and sloppy moments, that weak story and unusual camera handling and editing was all intentional. The creators did a good job at recreate the same sort of style and atmosphere but at the same time also manage to place it in the modern world and time of 1983. I liked some of the subtle and nice touches in the movie, that were a nod and throwback to the '50's genre movies. Those who are a bit familiar with that period of genre movies will most likely be able to appreciate this movie. But a good homage of course doesn't make a great movie as well. No, in the end this movie will certainly not make any of my favorite lists but the movie remains a good enough one to watch. The movie fails to make a lasting impression, also because it's an obvious low budget one, so it's lacking in any big spectacular moments. Also the story isn't' that much special and basically is like a whole bunch of other science-fiction movies thrown together but then again, also those movies from the '50's never really featured a great or original script and to be fair, they weren't always that much good as movies. So in that regard this movie also pays perfectly homage to that and I don't think it ever was the film-makers goal and aim to make a spectacular and classic genre movie. They just wanted to have fun, paying homage to the movies they love and with this movie they also give the viewers, that understand this, some good fun to watch as well. 7/10